(Table 2) Sedimentation and accumulation rates of DSDP Holes 38-337 and 38-338

The modern depositional environment of the deep Norwegian-Greenland Sea is highly asymmetric in an E-W direction because of the hydrography of the surface water masses and because of the more or less permanent pack ice cover of the East Greenland Current regime along the Greenland continental margin. By means of sedimentation rates we have tried to investigate whether this hydrographic asymmetry influenced the sediment input to the Norwegian-Greenland Sea over the past 60 m.y. Sediment input can be quantified if thicknesses of sediment sections accumulated over known time intervals can be measured and if some of their physical properties have been determined. Sedimentation rates have been estimated for Tertiary and Quaternary times, and their temporal as well as their spatial changes are discussed. Basin structure and morphology exerted an important influence on sediment distribution. During the Early Tertiary major sediment source regions in the southern Barents Sea and to the north and west of Iceland could be identified; these source regions supplied the bulk of the sediment fill of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. Since inception of a "glacial" type sedimentation major elements of the sea surface circulation seem to have controlled the sediment input into this polar and subpolar deep-sea basin.

Contiunous surface water uncorrected and quench-corrected active fluorescence and derived chlorophyll a concentration using calibration by HPLC pigments during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-XXV/1

The relationship between phytoplankton assemblages and the associated optical properties of the water body is important for the further development of algorithms for large-scale remote sensing of phytoplankton biomass and the identification of phytoplankton functional types (PFTs), which are often representative for different biogeochemical export scenarios. Optical in-situ measurements aid in the identification of phytoplankton groups with differing pigment compositions and are widely used to validate remote sensing data. In this study we present results from an interdisciplinary cruise aboard the RV Polarstern along a north-to-south transect in the eastern Atlantic Ocean in November 2008. Phytoplankton community composition was identified using a broad set of in-situ measurements. Water samples from the surface and the depth of maximum chlorophyll concentration were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), flow cytometry, spectrophotometry and microscopy. Simultaneously, the above- and underwater light field was measured by a set of high spectral resolution (hyperspectral) radiometers. An unsupervised cluster algorithm applied to the measured parameters allowed us to define bio-optical provinces, which we compared to ecological provinces proposed elsewhere in the literature. As could be expected, picophytoplankton was responsible for most of the variability of PFTs in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Our bio-optical clusters agreed well with established provinces and thus can be used to classify areas of similar biogeography. This method has the potential to become an automated approach where satellite data could be used to identify shifting boundaries of established ecological provinces or to track exceptions from the rule to improve our understanding of the biogeochemical cycles in the ocean.